Alcohols, and particularly low molecular weight alcohols, are important compounds in the chemical industry, the uses of alcohols being extremely varied in nature. For example, one of the most common alcohols, namely ethyl alcohol, may be used as a solvent or extraction medium in the manufacture of organic derivatives, dyes, synthetic drugs, rubber, detergents, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, explosives, beverages, rocket fuels, etc. Likewise, isopropyl alcohol will find use in the manufacture of acetone, acetic anhydrides, as a solvent for essential and other oils, alkaloids, gums, resins, etc., as a latent solvent for cellulose derivatives, as an antistalling agent and deicing agent, for liquid fuels, in pharmaceuticals, perfumes, lacquers, etc. Another important article of commerce would be sec-butyl alcohol which may be used in the preparation of methyleneketone, as a solvent in varnishes, lacquers, in paint removers, etc. Inasmuch as these alcohols are important articles of commerce, it is necessary that a relatively inexpensive process or starting material is used in order to minimize the expense of using such compounds. One potential source of raw materials for the production of these low molecular weight alcohols such as ethyl alcohol or isopropyl alcohol may be found in the off-gases which are a by-product of various refinery operations in which petroleum is produced to prepare more useable products such as internal combustion engines utilizing gasoline as a fuel therefor. For example, one of the processes which is employed comprises a fluid catalytic cracking operation which is utilized to obtain gasoline which possesses a relatively high octane number.
Heretofore, mixtures of off-gases which include olefins and paraffins have formed the feedstock for preparing alcohols. However, the catalyst which has been employed in these processes comprises sulfonic acid resins. A drawback which is found when utilizing these compounds as catalysts lies in the fact that the resins usually demonstrate poor stability at reaction temperatures greater than about 150.degree. C. In order to overcome this deficiency, it is now proposed that olefins may be subjected to a hydration reaction utilizing, as the catalyst therefor, certain compounds of a type hereinafter set forth in greater detail.